ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ

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ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ (* 622 ; † 683 ),عقبة بن نافع بن عبد القيس القرشي الفهري / ʿUqba b. Nāfiʿ b.ʿAbd al-Qais al-Qurašī al-Fihrī was the Arab governor of Ifrīqiya (662–674 and 681–683). He is the founder of the city of Qairawān .

ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ came from the Umayyad clan and was a nephew of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs , the conqueror of Egypt . First ʿUqba was commander of the troops in Tripolitania to protect the western border of Egypt. But he soon made first forays into the Byzantine provinces of Ifriqiyas .

From 662 to 674 first governor in Ifriqiya, he began with the subjugation of the Maghreb . After a victory over Byzantium near Carthage and the area of ​​today's central Tunisia, he founded an army camp there in 670 to secure the conquests. From this camp, Kairouan later developed as an important cultural and economic center in North Africa. The camp was set up in the interior of Ifriqiya to protect it from attacks by the Byzantine fleet, which continued to rule the Mediterranean . In Kairouan, ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ also founded the first simple mosque in Ifriqiya in 672, which later rose to become one of the most important religious centers of Islam in North Africa . The main mosque of Kairouan still bears his name today: Jāmiʿ Sīdī ʿUqba .

The mosque in Sīdī ʿUqba with the tomb of ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ. Historic postcard from around 1900

After being replaced by Abu Muhadschir Dinar (674–681), ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ was reappointed governor in Ifriqiya (681–683) by the Caliph Yazid I. He advanced with his army through the Maghreb to the Atlantic . Because of the insecure supplies and the uprisings of the Berber tribes, he had to withdraw again. South of Biskra , near Tahuda, the Arab army was defeated by the Berbers under Kusaila ibn Lemzem in 683, during which ʿUqba fell with a large part of his army. After this defeat, the Berbers conquered all of Ifriqiya and the Muslims had to retreat to Cyrenaica .

See also

literature

  • Ulrich Haarmann (Ed.): History of the Arab World. CH Beck Munich, 2001, pp. 264-265; P. 271 ISBN 3-406-38113-8
  • Stephan and Nandy Ronart: Lexicon of the Arab World. Artemis Verlag, 1972 ISBN 3-7608-0138-2
  • The Encyclopaedia of Islam , New Edition. Vol. X.789. Brill, suffering
personal data
SURNAME ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Arab governor of Ifrīqiya (662–674 and 681–683)
DATE OF BIRTH 622
DATE OF DEATH 683